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It's no secret the US government has been battered by embarrassing digital attacks. The breach of the Office of Personnel Management, exposing the details of at least 21.5 million government employees, was the nadir. Repeated claims of Russian and Chinese hacking of American businesses and public agencies continued to pour in last year, a just this week reports indicated 20,000 FBI staffers had their data leaked following an attack.

President Obama wants to fix that with an ambitious Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) that's winning plaudits. The president is asking for a 35 per cent increase in spending on cybersecurity for the 2017 budget to reach $19 billion, whilst signing an Executive Order creating a permanent Federal Privacy Council and establishing a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.

US President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting with members of his national security team on cybersecurity. (Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

As part of the increased spending, a $3.1 billion Information Technology Modernization Fund will seek to replace unsecure legacy technology.

The government will invest $62 million in cybersecurity personnel, as the federal government will get its first chief information security officer who will lead the charge to secure the US government. The Department of Homeland Security is increasing the number of Federal civilian cyber defense teams to 48. They will be tasked with finding vulnerabilities and possible intruders sitting on government systems

The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity will report to Obama later this year with recommendations for federal departments and private sector to improve protections over the next decade. The privacy council, meanwhile, will hope to write up more strategic and comprehensive Federal privacy guidelines.

Today's announcements were not all about fixing a poorly-protected public sector, but also about boosting citizens' own security. The government wants to push consumers to secure their online accounts by using two-factor authentication; the National Cyber Security Alliance is set to partner with , , DropBox and to make it simpler for users to add login security.

The security industry has been largely positive about Obama's plans. "If implemented, the proposal will help support federal agencies that are very much in need of more secure IT to help prevent or mitigate more serious breaches. We hope Congress and the Administration will collaborate to execute this plan," said Harley Geiger, director of public policy at security consultancy Rapid7.